Justice News

Former Bank Teller Sentenced for Embezzlement

BOSTON – A former teller at Lenox National Bank in Lenox, Mass. was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Springfield in connection with embezzling almost $300,000 from the bank.

Bernadine M. Powers, 41, of Becket, Mass., was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni to 18 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $299,793 in restitution. In September 2016, Powers pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to embezzle funds from a bank.

Powers, a bank teller at Lenox National Bank, conspired with another bank teller, Melissa Scolforo, to embezzle money from the teller drawers and make false entries in bank records to hide the thefts. In January 2009, Scolforo began stealing the money, and Powers joined the scheme about a year later. The two tellers stole a total of $378,000 before the embezzlement was brought to light during a bank audit in November 2013. Lenox National Bank has since been acquired by Adams Community Bank.

Scolforo previously pleaded guilty to the same charge and is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 30, 2017.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and Harold H. Shaw, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division, made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen L. Goodwin of Ortiz’s Springfield Branch Office prosecuted the case.